The history of Suzdal. Before Mongol-Tartar invasion (Pre
Mongol period).

The name of Suzdal (Suzhdal) for the
first time appeared in chronicle in
1024 as the name of a region,
domestic craft industry location on
the banks of the Nerl River till the
Klyazma River.
Archaeological excavations show that
there was a location there not late
than in X century. In XI century it
was a reach land, included in Kievan
State.
Christian religion spread badly at that place. It was
occupied mostly by peasants.
Christian preachers were killed or
driven away. At that time Yaroslav
the Wise ordained new laws, which
put the peasants to deeper
dependence on the reach. It was a
cause of peasants’ uprising and
Yaroslav came to crush it down on
his own.
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, his sons
partitioned the lands among
themselves.
Vsevolod Yaroslavich got Rostov,
Suzdal, Beloozero, Land along the
Volga River, Pereslavl of the South.
His son Vladimir Monomakh got those
lands in his turn. During Vladimir
Monomakh’s reign, Prince Oleg
Svyatoslavich, who owned Murom and
Chernigov, tried to conquer reach
lands of Suzdal. He burned Suzdal
when attacked it.
It was not the end of attacks on the town. In 1107 Volga
Bulgarians came on Suzdal. After
their attack Monomakh built the
first Christian Cathedral of Suzdal
– the Assumption Cathedral. It has
not survived to this day, but
according to the information of
excavations and reconstructions,
leading by A.D.Varganov, it was a
huge bricken construction with four
columns and one dome.
Yuri Dolgorukiy ran Rostov-Suzdal principality after
Monomakh, his farther.
Dolgorukiy had called Suzdal a capital town, had placed
princely residence in neighbouring
Kideksha on the bank of the Nerl
River. Consequently he had also
taken a waterway along the Kamenka
River till Suzdal under control.
Because of frequent enemy invasions and local uprisings Yuri
Dolgorukiy had to build a rampart
around the town with walls from
arrow-headed oak logs. Rampart has
survived to this day. The River
Kamenka turned the fortress outside
from the North to the West, a graff
turned it from the East. There were
three entrances with gates and
towers.
At that time merchants and handicraftsmen began coming to
Suzdal. Trading quarter (Posad) were
expending on the eastern side of the
town. It also had a rampart around
with oak fence and gates. It was
protected by an artificial graff
from the North.
Monasteries also began occupying lands around the town.
Already at the end of XI century the
Monastery of St. Demetrius of
Pechersk was built on a high right
bank of the River Kamenka. The
Monastery was under protection of
Efrem, Kievan metropolitan.
Several forces concentrated in the town: princely authority,
boyars and citizens. All of them
asserted their influence over the
power struggle of Andrey
Bogolyubsky, the son of Yuri
Dolgorukiy.
Suzdal boyars asked Andrey Bogolyubsky to be the prince of
the town, keeping popular assembly
(veche). Andrey accepted the order,
but then refused to report to boyars
and started strengthening his
autocracy. Amplification of princely
authority and following conflict
with outstanding boyars was the
cause of a plot against Andrei
Bogolyubsky, as a result of which he
was killed on the night of June 28
to June 29, 1174
After the death of Andrey Bogolyubsky, residents of Suzdal
tried to get out of Vladimir’s
control (Andrey Bogolyubsky moved
the capital of principality to the
town of Vladimir), but they failed.
Younger brother of Andrey
Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod III the Big
Nest stayed running Vladimir. Suzdal
continued to grow and strengthen in
his presence. Vsevolod’s location
was Michailovskaya Sloboda
(Michailovskaya settlement) –
Michali (Mikhali), where the River
Mzhary debouched into the River
Kamenka.
In 1212, after the death of Vsevolod, Vladimir-Suzdal
principality was partitioned among
his numerous sons. In 1217 Suzdal
was given to Yuri Vsevolodich. He
rebuilt the cathedral, which was
made by Yuri Dolgorukiy, his
grandfather in 1148. New white-stone
3-domed cathedral was named the
Cathedral of the Nativity.